Microplastics are everywhere — including all over the Chesapeake Bay

Baltimore’s streams and harbor have a reputation for litter, but new research suggests that the harmful byproducts of plastic pollution contaminates waterways far beyond the city: In fact, they’re all over the Chesapeake Bay.

A new report by a coalition of environmental groups found microplastics in water samples at every site they tested from southern Virginia’s York River to the headwaters of the Susquehanna River in New York.

The coalition outlined the findings Tuesday at a news conference along the Jones Falls outfall in the Baltimore Harbor, where the garbage-collecting contraption known as Mr. Trash Wheel has been shielding the harbor from plastics and other litter for more than a decade.

“This is not just a Baltimore problem,” said Alice Volpitta, a water quality watchdog for the group Blue Water Baltimore. “This is a Maryland problem. This is a Chesapeake Bay problem.”

Spearheaded by the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center, an advocacy group that investigates pollution impacts in the environment, researchers took samples at 15 sites in Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and New York.

Scientists are still trying to understand the impact of microplastics, but studies show the contaminants are just about everywhere: in the air, in drinking water and in ecosystems around the world. Often invisible to the naked eye, microplastics are consumed by fish and other animals, build up in the food chain, and can worm their way into human bodies, brain tissue and even breast milk.

Recent studies suggest that the accumulation of microplastics in humans increases the risk of health complications, including heart attacks, respiratory issues, strokes and impaired fetal growth.

Analysis was conducted by researchers at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University and PennEnvironment. They measured for four different types of microplastics.

Fibers from synthetic clothing were present at every testing site. Fragments from harder plastics were present at 93% of the sites, while nearly half the sites tested positive for the remnants from plastic bags and packaging. More than a quarter of the sites included the microscopic beads found in certain soaps and cosmetic products.

Still, advocates said Tuesday that the findings show how policy changes can shield waterways from pollution.

Remnants of plastic bags did not turn up in any tests from the Patapsco River, which runs out of Baltimore and through Baltimore County — a possible sign that local bans on the bags in the city and the county are working, Volpitta said. Maryland passed a statewide ban on the sale of microbeads in cosmetics products in 2015, and although these bead particles were found in other parts of the watershed, they appeared at just one Maryland test site.

Some attempts to crack down on plastics pollution in Maryland have come up short.

This summer, a judge threw out Baltimore’s lawsuit against PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay and other producers that tried to force those companies to pay to address litter and microplastics pollution in the city.

For years, environmental groups have pushed legislation to reimburse residents a few cents for returning soda bottles and other plastic containers — an approach some states have employed for decades to prevent litter. Versions of that bill have failed in Annapolis three years in a row, but lawmakers are expected to consider it again in the upcoming session.

Clearing litter out of rivers and streams isn’t enough, Trash Free Maryland Executive Director Kelly Doordan said Tuesday, and Maryland needs to pursue policies that stop plastic pollution before it happens.

“Each new plastic bottle or bag that leaks to our environment is a source of countless microplastics in our environment tomorrow,” she said.